Lactation Cookies – Two Ways

When asking me if I would be breastfeeding my son, my mom revealed to me that she actually had a hard time producing enough nutritious milk when she breastfed me. After speaking with and hearing about the struggles of other mamas, I knew that I had to try and be proactive in my plan to breastfeed.

I would like to first break to say that I am a FIRM believer that FED is best. After discussing it with my husband in detail while still pregnant, we both agreed that if we had to switch to formula to make sure he was getting the nutrition he needs then so be it. Ultimately, his health was by far the most important. That being said, we still wanted to try our hardest to do breastfeeding first.

I had originally found this recipe by How Sweet Eats and modified slightly to better accommodate my accessibility to ingredients and my budget. I’ve linked all the ingredients down below to the items I used.

After making the initial batch to see if I would even enjoy the taste of them, I definitely noticed a tiny change in my… well, for lack of better and more eloquent terms, nipple discharge. I didn’t want to have too much of these since I’ve read mixed opinions of eating them while still pregnant, but needed to know which was superior: with peanut butter or without peanut butter.

Honestly, I still couldn’t tell you, but I am highly leaning toward the peanut butter version. In fact, after telling another new mommy friend of mine about my cookie recipe she immediately asked for her own batch! Always nice when you can share the love!

I didn’t link the milled flaxseed I used as I purchased it from a grocer that isn’t available country-wide, and all of the online alternatives I found we’re really costly. I recommend going in or calling your local grocery store to see if they carry it (ground or milled, it’s basically the same) and if they have a store brand alternative. I was able to get a large bag for $3 on sale. Also, the original recipe called for organic unsalted butter, but I use Imperial Butter for everything that involves baking. I have also used Earth Balance and have not noticed a difference in taste or consistency. When it comes to baking, I take a “I will use whatever butter I have available” mentality and it has not failed me yet.

If you’re planning on adding peanut butter to your recipe, I highly recommend using Justin’s honey peanut butter. I recommend using this peanut butter for everything. Breakfast toast. Cracker snacks. Apple slices. It’s just really good and I think everyone should own some.

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

In a stand mixer or a large bowl, mix together all your wet ingredients. Be sure that your coconut oil isn’t hard. I made the mistake of trying to carve out the oil after just getting it in the mail and ended up with coconut oil chunks in my cookie batter. To be fair, I had never used coconut oil before this recipe for anything and wasn’t aware of this mistake until the next day. Everything should be creamy and smooth.

Next, add your sugar, yeast, flaxseed, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Once well combined, slowly add in your flour 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time. Add the oats next. If you’re using a stand mixer, lower it to the slowest possible speed you can and don’t let it over mix. Lastly, add in your chocolate chips. I recommend only letting your mixer do a few rounds before going in with your hands or a large spoon to finish your mixing. The amount of batter this makes can push a lot of the batter up to the top and create a potential mess if you’re not careful.

From here, you have another fork in the road. You can freeze the batter for later use, or bake the cookies and then freeze. I did a mixture of both for my first batch because I wanted a small supply available when I went into labor. Both should keep for about 3 months.

If you choose to freeze the batter, I highly suggest making cookie balls first, rather than making logs. I tried to slice the logs and the size of the chocolate chips (even chocolate chunks if you decide to use those instead) end up compromising the integrity of the logs and can make them fall apart. Unfortunately, I have an extremely narrow and tall freezer and doing it the better way isn’t really an option.

Bake the cookies at 375 degrees F for about 10-14 minutes, depending on your oven. 8 cookies bake in 12 minutes in mine. Depending on the size of your scoops, you should be able to get anywhere from 18-24 cookies from one batch. I recommend shooting for 21 cookies so you can have one a day for 3 weeks.

Making the batter took me about 10-15 minutes max, and the initial investment cost me about $46. I already had the basics and didn’t need to worry about adding those to the overall cost. If you didn’t have all of the ingredients, I could see this costing around $60 to start. This may seem like a rather hefty investment, but I promise you the cost justifies itself in the amount of cookies you’ll get out of it. In theory, you could get around 7 dozen cookies out of this set (only having to refill on oats) for that cost and the cookies you get are going to be WAY tastier than anything store bought.

If you make these cookies, be sure to tag @ourdiyhomeblog on Instagram, or link in the comments below! I would love to see your batch and if you went with peanut butter or not!

This post contains affiliate links that come at no cost to you, but help support the blog. This post is not sponsored.

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Welcome to our home! I’m Joey Spurgeon, and I run Our DIY Home. New around these parts? Check our About page to learn more about our family, our home and all of our DIY projects and goals!

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